Ookurikara & Yamanbagiri Kunihiro

1

Sometimes Yamanbagiri Kunihiro blames himself for being such a softie for things like this. He was running through this park near his university, forced to take a desolate shortcut behind the bushes because he was already fifteen minutes late to work, when he heard a panicked meow above him. Sure when he looked up, there was a red tortoiseshell cat, crouching near the tip of a blossoming cherry branch. It was such a beautiful sight if the cat didn't sound so scared and staring at him, pleading for help.

Yamanbagiri cussed a bit and then slung his bag tighter before taking his first step, climbing that cherry tree. The sunlight was almost out, so he grabbed the tree trunk carefully, minding his every movement and trying to help the cat as soon as possible. He never climbed a tree when he was still a child, but he knew if he was needed to he had to be able to do that. So there he was, crouching on top of the blossoming tree, mimicking the cat's position and hugging the branch himself. He reached his hand out, trying to grab the scared feline which was still wailing loudly with fear.

"Come on, kitty. Let's get you down as freaking soon as possible..."

Yamanbagiri hissed with frustration. His hand wasn't long enough to just reach the cat's body and the cat was too frozen in fear to scoot over to him. Almost ten minutes passed only for him trying to stretch his body more, but still his finger could only brush the tip of the cat's tail.

Finally, in one desperate attempt to grab the cat, Yamanbagiri grabbed the branch even more tightly and tried to lunge his body forward. At the same time, his cellphone was ringing from inside his pocket, startled both him and the cat. The cat, in shock, leapt down, and as Yamanbagiri's heart froze, he tried reach out to it but immediately lost his balance and his sweaty fingers couldn't find their grip.

The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was the greyish blue sky behind the blossoming tree, and he thought he would surely hit the ground hard and miss his shift. Tsurumaru might be upset.

He expected his back to hit the ground soon, but something, someone, caught his body with a deep grunted voice, stumbled a bit, and then put him back to his own to feet, all was done before Yamanbagiri could comprehend what in the wild world was happening. Someone caught him, that's for sure, someone just saved him in a very embarassing moment.

He tried to bow and peek from under his hoodie to see his saviour, but all he was able to see was some kind of black tattoo on a dark skinned arm before he was immediately taken aback. Was he a yakuza? Yamanbagiri pulled his hoodie tighter and hastily bowed again.

"Thank you very mu-"

His phone was ringing again. Must be Tsurumaru, really, that guy could only call in either the best or the worst circumstances. Feeling like he was saved from further embarassment or disaster, Yamanbagiri turned back and waved his hand before that person who saved him could say anything at all.

"I'm sorry, I'm really late to my part-time work, I have to leave now. Thank you, once again!"

Only when Yamanbagiri was out of the park and the red lanterns of Tsurumaru's izakaya was seen, he felt like he finally could breathe again. He was pretty sure if that was really a yakuza he would be extorted for money or doing whatever scary things as forced gratitude. Yamanbagiri shudders at the unnecessary thought about cemented drums or sadistic torture involving needles. But then, he also felt like a scary sadistic yakuza just wouldn't have caught him along with the tortie cat and then hold the cat close to his chest.

Tsurumaru didn't scold him for being 45 minutes late, of course. Tsurumaru was not that kind of person. That white haired guy just put an airhorn under Yamanbagiri's swivelling chair and call it fair.

However, his job was piling up already. He was only helping in this izakaya thrice a week, as accounting and administrative staff, but this week was an extraordinarily busy one. Piles and piles of bills and receipts was waiting for him to be organized and inputed into a neat financial report, and he was immediately buried under them. He arrived short before 7pm and suddenly it was quite late already.

Tsurumaru popped his white head from behind the door, surprising him even though he tried his best not to look like it. "You can rest now, Yamanbagiri. Go to the front and ask Akashi-san to cook you something," he said cheerily, before dissapearing as quick as he was appearing.

Yamanbagiri stretched his body and smiled. He would never get used to Tsurumaru's antics but he was such a kind guy who allowed him to work part time here, taking care of his family izakaya's financial management. Yamanbagiri knew Tsurumaru's parents too and they were also very kind and energetic. That's part of why this izakaya continued to thrive for generations and became quite a legendary eating place in this city.

He got out from the back room and went to sit on the bar in front of the open kitchen. There was a seat left on the corner, and from there he could see Akashi was grilling some yakitori.

The chef with the lazy eyes looked up and spotted him. "Oh, finally you come to get your meal. Usual set, I guess?"

Yamanbagiri nodded. "Yeah. I think I could never get enough of your special katsudon, Akashi-san. How's Aizen and Hotaru? I heard Hotaru won inter-school kendo competition?"

"Yeah. He did that quite easily. Awesome, right?"

They chatted a bit while Akashi was preparing the rest of the yakitori and Yamanbagiri's meal. Even though he always thought that he was a shy and hard person to talk to, this izakaya's atmosphere always makes him comfortable enough to open up. Later on, Tsurumaru, who was also on his break, sat down beside him and accompanied him with his own dinner set. Dinner busy time was just over and the customers remain at the izakaya were the people who just want to spend their evening relaxing over drinks and snacks. Koryuu and another waiter were taking over the serving shift, so Tsurumaru was taking his time carefully munching his favorite silken tofu dish. Yamanbagiri had finished his meal and sipping his tea quietly, watching his ever so energetic friend babbled about things.

"So you haven't met the new lecturer? You see, I really don't like how he wears his monocle and white blue attire everyday like some kind of perfectionist aristocrat. I had to take his class this semester and I can only imagine he will go ballistic over every single things that won't go where he want to."

"You don't like him because you might get a lot of troubles with him," Yamanbagiri chuckled.

"Well, touche. But that doesn't mean his face is less annoy-oh! Mutsu and Shishio! Long time no see you here, and you bring Kara-chan too!" Tsurumaru stood and walked over to the entrance. He must have recognized some guest to personally greet them himself. It was not a rare occurrence since the izakaya was located near their campus and Tsurumaru really had a lot of friends and acquaintances.

Yamanbagiri was ready to finish his tea and go back to his work station at the back room when he took a glance to whoever it is Tsurumaru was greeting. And of course, the dark skinned tattooed man who saved him at the park stood there with some of his friends and Tsurumaru. That distinct dragon tattoo just couldn't be mistaken. Yamanbagiri was still standing there in shock when the man noticed him.

"Oh, the pretty cat guy who fell from the tree."

Again. Why is it almost every people who saw him for the first time always, always says that kind of thing? He really hates that kind of shallow bullshit and for a moment he forgot about his shock and embarassment and just clenched his fist tight.

"Don't you dare call me pretty!"

Hello! This is my first attempt to write a story in English (it does take a lot of courage), but since English is not my first languange, you are welcome to correct my grammar or vocabulary and give me some advice to improve my writing. I decided to write it in English since I don't think writing it in my mother language would look neat. Please be kind to me, okay?

Anyway this story is a reincarnation AU, and that's all I can tell you for now lol. It will start slow and focused on Yamanbagiri and Ookurikara's relationship in the first part but it will have another character's pov in the next part. Part 2 will have Nihongou/Hasebe's pov, Part 3 will have Tsurumaru's pov, and the last part will follow Tenka Goken's pov. Be sure to follow this story until the end :) Thank you very much and I hope you can enjoy this story as much as I do writing it!